Get Gaddafi: Libyan leader goes to ground as regime crumbles

Lighting up time: thousands gather in Benghazi's main square to celebrate the rebels advancing into the Libyan capital

Colonel Gaddafi was being hunted by rebels and Nato forces this afternoon as his brutal regime of 42 years crumbled in the face of sweeping rebel advances across Tripoli.

Opposition fighters vowed to "turn every stone" to make sure he faces justice. They were besieging his compound after over-running the Libyan capital in a dramatic end to the six-month civil war.

But as David Cameron said the regime was in "full retreat", Gaddafi seemed determined to make a bloody last stand, sending tanks against the fighters and ordering a fightback by his feared son Khamis. Three of Gaddafi's sons, including London playboy Saif-al Islam, were arrested by rebels in Tripoli.

The National Transitional Council was poised to take over as celebrations erupted across Libya and on the streets of London.

The Prime Minister said: "His regime is falling apart and is in full retreat. Gaddafi must stop fighting without conditions and clearly show that he has given up any claim to control Libya."

Nato is believed to have joined the battle today with bombing raids on the Gaddafi compound. As rebels gained more and more control of the city, the National Transitional Council was this afternoon planning to move from Benghazi inthe east to take control of the country in the capital. "The heroic rebels control almost all of Tripoli," said Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the council.

But Gaddafi was refusing to heed calls to end the bloodshed. Hundreds of opposition fighters were reported to have been killed in bitter fighting overnight.

The tyrant's whereabouts were unknown but he may be hiding in a labyrinth of tunnels underneath his compound. He could have gone to ground in his home town of Sirte or another secret location - possibly even in another country.

Rebels streamed into Tripoli from the east, west and south in co-ordinated attacks. They came under fire from tanks and machineguns mounted on lorries which poured out of the compound.

There were reports that tanks were also heading to the port. But some local residents claimed that most of Gaddafi's forces had deserted him.The rebels' top diplomat in London, Mahmud Nacua, said that 95 per cent of the city was under their control and vowed that Gaddafi would be found.

"The fighters will turn over every stone to find him". The startling breakthrough, after a long deadlock, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, Nato and anti-Gaddafi forces in Tripoli, rebel leaders said.

Britain, America and other nations are urging rebel leaders to ensure that the toppling of the dictator is not followed by fresh bloodshed as happened in Iraq.

Gaddafi last night issued an appeal on state television for Libyans to save the capital. In a series of audio messages, he called on his supporters to march in the streets of the capital and "purify it" from "the rats".

As euphoric residents celebrated in Green Square, the symbolic heart of the Gaddafi regime, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman warned that pockets of resistance remained and that as long as Gaddafi remained on the run the "danger is still there".

Reporters in the Rixos Hotel could hear gunfire and loud explosions from the direction of the compound. In Green Square - which is to return to its original name of Martyrs' Square - rebel supporters tore down the green flags of the Libyan government and trampled on portraits of Gaddafi.

Special forces and other military trainers are understood to have played a key role in transforming the rebels into a fighting force. Nato aircraft carried out thousands of missions over Libya, with British planes bombing 900 targets.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif, and the head of the intelligence service, Abdullah al-Sanussi, for crimes against humanity. With events unfolding quickly, Mr Cameron broke off his holiday in Cornwall to chair a meeting of the National Security Council on Libya this morning.

He stressed Gaddafi's future was up to the Libyan people adding: "The Libyan people are closer to their dream of a better future free from the terror of Gaddafi."